Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: Quick Decluttering Tips
Clutter is stressful
The photo shows an ordinary shelf cluttered with too many body care items. Clutter can start innocently, and then become unconscious and unsightly—reaching the point when it is stressful to look at and hard to be around. Photo by David Griffiths at Unsplash.
Living with less and being a minimalist takes commitment in a culture that encourages consumerism, but freeing up physical space can also free your mind. Decluttering is a way to be wise about the things you buy and how you use your living and workspaces. In addition, decluttering spaces in your home is the one thing you can do to create a feeling of peace and sanctuary, which may help reduce stress and anxiety. Eliminating those piles of stuff can also be a way to get clear on priorities and what is important to you. Simplifying your life in this way may even help you in other ways, including making things like locating things quickly and cleaning your house less of a chore, because objects have a place to be put away when not in use. But decluttering is a task that requires energy and attention, and commitment. It can be hard to do in a single day. It is more useful to make a habit of decluttering spaces regularly, so that surfaces are clear, and objects have their resting place.
I have been in homes of people who have adopted this habit of regularly decluttering space. Their homes feel like a sanctuary that supports their lives. I personally have adopted the credo that you can create the order that you need, which means that I can tolerate chaos and clutter in my environment up to a point, which is when I spring into action to clean and bust the clutter. It is a personal thing, and you can find what works best for you and your living space, which is meant to support you and help you live your life. Or at least, your living space does not bother or annoy you when you wake up in the morning and start living your life each day.
Here are some approaches to decluttering that have worked for me.
1. Schedule it
2. Use a method to sort through stuff (4 piles or 5 questions)
3. Recognize that Emotions May Be Involved
4. Do it regularly
Schedule It
There is nothing like a deadline to motivate you to declutter and organize your living and workspaces. Your city might have a free junk pickup, or you might pay a service to do a pickup of discarded stuff. Put it in the calendar and do your best to keep your promise so that you get your money’s worth. Have friends and family join in with you so you are saying good-bye to the junk pile together. This has worked really well for me.
Also, scheduling small sessions of decluttering time to sort through things is helpful. “Do no more than 30 minutes” is what I tell myself to begin a decluttering task. That might be enough to deal with a shelf or a drawer, and you get to experience results almost right away. Such instants of small success may spur you do another 30 minutes on a different day or to do it regularly for a few days or weeks as you ready yourself to tackle the bigger stuff.
Use a Method to Sort Through Stuff
Use a method to help you organize your approach to clutter. I like this simple one:
Make four piles that you might color code or separate out into regions.
Pile one is trash. This is my red pile.
Pile two has donations (toys, books, clothing). This is my yellow pile.
Pile three is for things you love. This is my green pile.
Pile four is for things that you use and that must be readily available on a daily basis. This is the blue pile.
You might also benefit from using guiding questions as you sort:
Do I use it?
Do I need it?
Do I love it?
Would I bring it into the dream house?
How does it make me feel?
Finding a Home for the Things You Keep
Once you have your piles of things you want to keep, it’s time to find a resting place in your home for each item you want to keep. I have found that this is where you may need solutions like shelving or containers to take advantage of “vertical space” and to obtain a result that works for you. The new order that you find may even be pleasing to look at. This part of decluttering may take some trial and error. Professional organizers and interior designers can help you make good use of your spaces. What really helped me get ideas and motivation is watching home organizer videos on YouTube. Clint Tan is such an expert, and his funny and compassionate explanations of energy use and Feng shui concepts like Qi and flow can be found on his YouTube channel called DearModern .
Clutter affects many people. You are not alone if you need to deal with clutter.
Recognize that Emotions May Be Involved
The emotions associated with clutter can surprise you. Sheer dread: “I can’t face this!” Anger and annoyance: “I hate this. What a pain!” Resistance: “Just no. Oh, come on! I would rather not.” Shame: “What? Do the walk of shame to review my bad choices and delayed decisions. My life does not work.”
The reason clutter is hard to deal with is because objects that you own spark memories and emotions you may not be ready to deal with yet. Clutter can represent delayed decisions. The delayed decisions can point to time crunches and overwork that knocked you off balance in the not so distant past. Unfulfilled dreams, broken promises, and unfinished business can also be in the mix. Wow, facing these feelings can hurt. Besides taking time and commitment, decluttering also requires courage and willingness to feel uncomfortable momentarily. Sometimes you may need non-judgmental help from a professional organizer or emotional support from friends and family to declutter your spaces. Journaling or talking to a professional therapist can also help a lot, especially if you find the need to declutter overwhelming.
“The mess is not who you are”
Your thoughts are a powerful way to deal with your stuff. How do you interpret the clutter and mess? How you talk to yourself about the mess can really support your decluttering efforts or derail them. To help with decluttering, I offer these powerful thoughts. Clutter is temporary. The mess is not who you are, which means the mess and the clutter do not change the fact that you are a worthwhile human being, alive on this planet Earth and breathing air just like everyone else. Your life matters, because life matters. You might then ask yourself some powerful questions: “What’s missing in all this mess? What is the next action I can take to clear the decks and make some room for my life?” These questions have really helped me at times when things got especially messy and stressful.
You can free yourself from the interpretations of the clutter to be free of clutter!
Do it Regularly
Decluttering one time is fantastic, but doing it regularly is more what life requires. The law of energy is that things need to move and circulate, which means those objects that surround us in our work and living spaces are alive. There is a time when the objects are in heavy use, which means they are of service and appreciated. When the purpose is complete, those same objects may sit and collect dust, or the objects are retired or repurposed.
The cautionary tale is to hold onto objects so long that you then have to pay extra money to keep them in storage. There is a story of a man who did that, and then life got complicated. He fell in love, moved in with his girlfriend and forgot about the storage space for a while. The monthly storage fees accrued. Ten years later, standing at the storage facility the man said he “did not want to know” what he had paid all that time, but the helpful clerk at the storage facility gladly volunteered that he had paid $13,000 over ten years to store his not quite forgotten stuff. Wow! The man could have invested that money or taken a nice vacation with his girlfriend or paid back debt. Imagine! Clutter has a cost that might not necessarily be an exact monetary figure, but it does cost you precious energy, time, and attention that adds up and can steal your energy and peace of mind. Not only must you deal with the physical aspect of clutter, but your energy is used up with constant reminders of needing to deal with clutter and searching for solutions that stick. Meanwhile, there is everything else you are doing. So, the lesson is to declutter regularly so that you don’t expend extra energy to deal with your things. But most important: declutter your spaces so you remind yourself that you are free to do the next thing you need to do in peace. Whew!